1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to products made or derived from tobacco, or that otherwise incorporate tobacco, and are intended for human consumption. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatuses for manufacturing tobacco rods, and smoking articles incorporating such tobacco rods, and, more particularly, to apparatuses for forming tobacco rod portions of a smoking article, such as a cigarette.
2. Description of Related Art
Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge, roll or column of smokable material such as shredded tobacco (e.g., in cut filler form) surrounded by a paper wrapper thereby forming a so-called “smokable rod” or “tobacco rod.” Normally, a cigarette has a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, the filter element is attached to one end of the tobacco rod using a circumscribing wrapping material known as “tipping paper.” It also has become desirable to perforate the tipping material and plug wrap, in order to provide dilution of drawn mainstream smoke with ambient air. Descriptions of cigarettes and the various components thereof are set forth Tobacco Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis et al. (Eds.) (1999). A cigarette is employed by a smoker by lighting one end thereof and burning the tobacco rod. The smoker then receives mainstream smoke into his/her mouth by drawing on the opposite end (e.g., the filter end) of the cigarette.
Specifically designed machinery is employed for the production and/or processing of cigarettes and/or other types of rod-shaped articles which constitute or form part of smoking articles. More particularly, tobacco rod-shaped articles are produced by drawing a relatively thin but wide continuous layer of tobacco particles from a suitable source and converting the layer into a narrow continuous stream which moves lengthwise, draping the stream into a web of cigarette paper or the like to form a wrapped stream or rod, and severing the rod at selected intervals so that the rod yields a succession of rod-shaped sections (e.g., plain cigarettes) of unit length or multiple unit length. Such steps can be carried out in a cigarette maker or another machine wherein a distributor contains a supply of tobacco particles and is capable of forming the layer, converting the layer into a narrow stream, trimming the stream, draping the trimmed stream (filler), and converting the resulting rod into discrete rod-shaped articles. Typically, the stream and the filler are attracted by suction to one or more foraminous belt conveyors so as to remain in the prescribed path and advance at the speed of such conveyor or conveyors.
However, the tobacco material moving throughout the cigarette making machinery may cause wear issues on various components thereof. For example, tobacco material carried via suction created by a suction system for attracting the tobacco material to the conveyor(s) may have an erosive effect on components associated with the conveyor(s) and/or conveyor system(s) and/or suction system(s). Such wear issues typically lead to downtime associated with the machine to allow for repairs, which can be costly and time consuming.
As such, it would be desirable to provide cigarette making machinery capable of withstanding various wear issues associated therewith, thereby reducing instances of downtime for repairing such machinery.